kick the bucket
Pigs to be slaughtered are bled, that is the blood is drained from the body. One way this is accomplished is to hang the pig upside down from a bar (by one foot) that used to be known as a "buchet," a French word for it. The pig's throat was cut or opened with a sharp spike, and it would rapidly be bled. In its death throes, it would always kick the buchet.
kick the bucket by Lorn A. W. August 14, 2004